Gas grabs and 5 questions to power at the Caspian Corridor Conference
Mar 18, 2014
The Euro Caspian Mega Pipeline is a massive infrastructure system designed to suck gas out of the Caspian into Western Europe. Construction of the pipeline involves politics and finance as much as it does concrete building materials, and the conference I’m about to go to is one in a series of events attempting to make...
What does the backlash over the Sydney Biennale sponsorship controversy say about the art world?
Mar 17, 2014
Guest blog post by Dr Alana Jelinek I have argued in the past that there are inherent problems with contemporary public-private funding models invented with the New Labour government and made very prescriptive since the year 2000 across subsequent governments of all hues. We can see just how prescriptive is its potential in the current...
Hands down White boy! Privilege and oil spills in New Orleans
Mar 11, 2014
“I came to realise that I needed “Hey-White-Boy-don’t-keep-putting-your-hand-up-training”. Yotam Marom, who came to the attention of the US media in 2011 through his role in the early days of Occupy Wall Street, is explaining his views on how to be a ‘leader’ in a ‘leaderless organisation’. He’s a young White man from Hoboken, New Jersey....
‘The Bus’ memorial for Ken Saro-Wiwa is on the move…
Mar 6, 2014
Today, the Bus moved from Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham where it has been for three years, round the corner to Hale Village where it will be throughout 2014. The Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa, aka The Bus, is a spectacular steel sculpture by artist Sokari Douglas Camp. Platform commissioned it in 2005, the...
Sunday at Trafalgar Square: oil sponsorship meets Russian militarism
Mar 3, 2014
Short version of the story: poor timing of the year award goes to Boris Johnson for hosting a huge Russian Maslenitsa (pancake day) festival on the day Russian troops took over Crimea. Lead sponsor of the festivities: Russian state oil corporation Rosneft. Anyone has a clear idea why Mayor of London held Russian festival yesterday...
Cameron’s floods response? Drill baby, drill!
Feb 26, 2014
The flood-waters are slowly receding. Communities across the country are still struggling to regain a sense of normality after the wettest winter on record. Questions are being raised about extreme weather in the UK, how prepared we are to deal with it, and whether or not this is a taster of things to come. You’re...
Why we’re telling Shell’s investors to tell Shell to stop Arctic drilling
Feb 25, 2014
A tricky, or should I even say embarrassing, moment in Shell’s history: on 31 October 2013 the company announced that they would be returning to drill in the Arctic in 2014, after all the mishaps and near-disasters of 2012. Three months later, they had to announce they wouldn’t be drilling in 2014 after all....
NON VOGLIAMO LE COMPAGNIE PETROLIFERE! – Una comunità italiana dice NO al gasdotto
Feb 24, 2014
This an Italian translation of a Platform blog. Many thanks to Maria Stefanizzi for her translation and to Comitato No Tap where the Italian version was originally posted. Alessandro Mancini mentre parla sbatte la mano su di un tavolo quadrato in legno. Sono seduta in una calda cucina a parlare di gasdotti con Alessandro e...
Does the EU think 40 Egyptian lives are worth less than one Ukrainian life?
Feb 20, 2014
On Wednesday, the European Union’s house bank froze its lending in Ukraine with the escalating violence, as the death toll passed 26. There have been reports of ‘death squads’ kidnapping opposition activists from hospitals, and today deaths have spiralled – some protestors claimed that 100 died. Western governments threatened sanctions and the President of the...
We don’t want the oil companies! – Italian community says no to pipeline
Feb 19, 2014
This blog is also available in Italian. The future is alternative, sustainable sources of energy. We don’t want the oil companies! This can be an independent state, a Puglia free from the oil companies Alessandro Mancini slaps the wooden table square with his palm as he talks. I am sat in a warm kitchen discussing...
New law in Nigeria could hold polluters to account
Feb 18, 2014
Last week, a letter coordinated by Platform and signed by 18 organisations was published in the Nigerian media. The letter focussed on a new piece of legislation designed to improve the response to oil spills. In 2012, Senator Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Chair of the Senate committee for the environment tabled a bill aimed at strengthening...
Floods, fossil fuel subsidies and the Daily Mail
Feb 13, 2014
Many people were pretty nauseated by the Daily Mail front cover at the start of this week, promoting a UKIP backed petition calling for David Cameron to scrap the foreign aid budget and to instead use it for the relief of flood victims. Beneath the populist posturing seemed to lie a more sinister intent. As...
